The one with cheese and filo pastry

Last sunday I was craving for a little something to snack on. Preferably not too healthy, and easy to make. Oh, and something that didn't require a trip to the supermarket. As a cheese aficionado, I always have cheese in the fridge. I had some filo dough as well and thought these two might be a match made in heaven.

What you'll need:

• 5 sheets of filo pastry
• 10 chunks of cheese
• 50 grams of butter
• ketchup, or something else for dipping purposes

Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F. Cut the dough in half, and melt the butter slowly in a small pan. Remove the pan from the heat and brush the sheet of dough on both sides with the melted butter. Place a big chunk of cheese on top, and wrap it like it's a present.

Place them on a sheet of baking paper, and bake them on the middle shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes, or until they are golden and crispy.

 

I served them with ketchup, but I can imagine they might taste good with a mixture of crème fraîche, chopped up garlic and fresh chives.

More crafting and cooking can be found at the super duper fun Linky Party below!

The one with the leek tart

What you'll need:

• 2 eggs
• 3 big tablespoons of mascarpone
• 3 sheets of ready made dough (150 grams)
• 3 leeks
• blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven at 190 C / 375 F, and start by lining a pie tin with baking paper. Cover the thin with the dough and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the washed and chopped leeks until they get soft. Remove from the heat and let this cool down a bit.

 

In a bowl, mix the eggs, mascarpone and season this with salt and pepper. Add the leeks and give it all a good stir. Fill the pie tin with the mixture and crumble over the blue cheese. Let it bake in the preheated oven for about half an hour, or until the top has a nice golden colour. Wait for 10 minutes to cool down and remove the tart from the tin. Enjoy!

More recipes are over here. Have you made something worth sharing in the kitchen recently? I'd love to see your links in the comments below, I can always use a good recipe!

The one with the couscous and pumpkin

What you'll need (lunch for four):

• 1 cup of couscous
• 3 tablespoons of roasted pinenuts
• half a cup of plumped raisins
• 1 cup of vegetable stock
• 3 big hands of fresh spinach
• half a pumpkin
• 6 big tablespoons of fetacheese, in cubes
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

What you'll need to do:

Start by making the couscous as said on the package. Stir fry the pumpkin for a couple of minutes in the olive oil and add the vegetable stock. Let it simmer until the liquid has evaporated and the pumpkin is quite soft. Take this of the fire and while it's still warm, add the spinach and stir with a wooden spoon. When the vegetables have cooled down a bit, add the couscous, together with the feta cheese, pinenuts and raisins.

We ate this dish lukewarm, but it can be eaten cold too. Enjoy!

The one with the brussels sprouts pesto

As most kids, I used to dislike brussels sprouts when I was young. Fortunately for me, my mom also didn't like these miniature cabbages, so I didn't have to eat them very often. A couple of years ago, I discoved that they can actually taste pretty good! They are quite the healthy guys, containing vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fibre. Also, they contain sinigrin, which is believed to protect against colon cancer.

What you'll need (dinner for 4)

• 350 grams of brussel sprouts
• 2 (small) cloves of garlic
• 6 tablespoons of roasted pinenuts
• lots of extra virgin olive oil (around 1/4 cup)
• pasta for four
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 60 grams of grated parmesan cheese for the pesto, plus extra for the pasta.

 

Wash the brussels sprouts, remove the bottoms, the outside leaves and slice in half. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil, add the sprouts and cook them for 3 minutes. Take them out of the pan, into a colander and let them cool down. If you're in a hurry, you can rinse them with cold water.

Prepare the pasta, as said on the packaging. While the pasta is cooking, Toss together the brussels sprouts, garlic, the pine nuts, and grated cheese in a blender, and mix until it's smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the pesto to the pasta and serve with extra cheese on top.

 

More recipes can be found over here

The one with the pumpkin pie

I might be a bit late to join the pumpkin party, but I wanted to share one of my favourite pumpkin recipes over here. This pie is pretty easy to make, most time is needed to chop the pumpkin. Maybe there's some sort of strategy that I haven't heard about, if you have any tips and tricks, please feel free to share :-)

What you'll need:

• 2 small hokkaido pumpkins, deseeded and chopped (I removed the skin) 
• 2 onions
• 2 large free range eggs
• 1 small tin of tomato puree
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 big cup of vegetable stock
• a big piece of (soft) goat's cheese
• 6 sheets of ready made pastry
• thyme, salt, and pepper, to taste

 

What you'll need to do:

Start by chopping the onions. Warm the olive oil in a big pan and stir fry the onions, then add the chopped pumpkins, and stir with a wooden spoon for a couple of minutes. Add the vegetable stock and let it simmer slowly with the lid on (it took me about 20 minutes), until the pumpkin is soft and most of the vegetable stock has evaporated. Take your pan of the heat and preheat the oven at 180ºC / 350ºF. Line a buttered pie tin with the pastry. Stir the eggs and tomato puree through the onions and pumpkin, season with thyme, salt, and pepper, and fill the tin with this mixture. Don't forget to add lots of goat's cheese before it goes into the oven! Remove the pie after 35 minutes, I served it with a green salad.

Looking for another recipe? There's more over here

The one with the basil dip

What you'll need:

• 40 grams of basil
• 1 package of creamcheese
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• 2 tablespoons of grated grana padano
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• pepper to taste

What you'll need to do:
Well, this is not really a recipe, it's super easy (chopping + stirring). All you need to do is chop the basil leaves and capers, add it to the cheeses and olive oil. Give it a stir, add pepper to taste, and that's it! I served it with warm bread and dried olives. I've never had this kind of olives before. If you can get your hands on them, I can highly recommend them, they are delicious!